Chapter 217: Prospects
“As for recruiting new shop assistants…” Zhang Qian’s mind flashed with several candidate quotas, then he shook his head and said, “There are no conditions for that here either.”
He knew that the shopkeeper could recruit new employees, but unfortunately, there weren’t that many people on the ghost ship for him to recruit.
Leaving aside those things that were neither human nor ghost, the only real living person was probably just Zhang Qian alone.
“You can also take this notebook out…” the waiter suggested.
“I’ve never recruited new employees because it’s too troublesome, and I’ve never taken this out of the resting area, plus I’m afraid the guy in my body will act up. But you’re different, shopkeeper. You can carry the notebook with you, and when you meet someone you’re interested in, just trick him into writing his name.”
“Anyway, shopkeeper, you can set rules freely, and those who join the branch store will be at your mercy, right?”
“That sounds pretty tempting.” Zhang Qian glanced at the yellowed notebook.
But given the current state of the world, tricking a ghost controller into signing his name on it would probably be impossible.
Zhang Qian asked again, “The quota for the branch store should be limited, right? Roughly how many people can it accommodate?”
This method was undoubtedly related to the supernatural, but the supernatural also had limits. Even if it could maintain endless connections indefinitely, the quota it could handle at the same time was definitely limited.
Sure enough, the waiter thought for a moment and replied, “The quota for each branch store varies. Our store is special and better than a normal new store, but it still can’t compare to those old stores.”
“Roughly… ten quotas?”
Ten?
That doesn’t seem like too few.
“After a shop assistant dies, the quota will refresh as well, right?” Zhang Qian asked.
The waiter nodded and said, “Yes, but to increase the number of quotas, you still need to look at performance. If you can fill that share of one thousand ghost money, both the quota and the next batch of dishes allocated should be more.”
“Forget it. For a shopkeeper like me who suddenly popped up, that ghost restaurant boss will be lucky if he doesn’t kill me just for paying back the money, let alone actively train me.” Zhang Qian said helplessly.
His situation was equivalent to a fugitive transforming overnight—not only whitewashed but also promoted to a high position. He didn’t think the boss would treat him as one of their own.
“Don’t worry, as long as you pay on time, it’s fine. These things are all part of the ghost restaurant’s own mechanism, and the boss generally won’t show up personally.” the waiter assured.
Just a mere one thousand was nothing; the boss probably wouldn’t bother coming personally for that, right?
“Your boss sure has a big heart…” Zhang Qian sighed.
Fair enough; his situation was probably unprecedented before.
Normal shopkeepers had signed layer upon layer of agreements, so they definitely couldn’t do anything to harm the ghost restaurant. The boss really just needed to sit back and collect the money.
Unfortunately, who could have imagined that an outsider would sneak into the carefully selected shopkeepers?
“But according to what you said, if I do well this time and receive more dishes next time, won’t I have to pay more money?”
One thousand was already so hard to scrape together; if it was even a bit more, Zhang Qian felt he’d have to consider defaulting again.
Anyway, this share seemed to be collected only once every few decades. Decades later… whether the ghost restaurant boss was still around or could still beat him was up in the air.
“But you can also get more profits from it. The ghost restaurant’s dishes absolutely won’t lack sales channels; even earning hundreds or thousands of ghost money isn’t a dream.” The waiter spoke until saliva was about to drip from his mouth.
He thought openly; anyway, he definitely couldn’t escape from Zhang Qian’s hands, so he already saw himself as an employee in Zhang Qian’s store.
And while the boss earned a fortune, it wouldn’t be bad for a little waiter like him to get a sip of the soup.
“That’s true, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the ghost restaurant.” Zhang Qian said suspiciously, “If these dishes are really as popular as you say, shouldn’t it be quite famous?”
He wasn’t exactly a newcomer now; he’d gone through a lot of headquarters information and seen plenty of other ghost controllers, but no one had ever mentioned this ghost restaurant place.
But it was also possible that, like the ghost post office, it had been in silence for a while, and those who knew were either hiding or already dead.
Hearing Zhang Qian’s doubt, the waiter showed no unease; instead, he became somewhat excited. “That’s even better then. Previously, the ghost restaurant had many branch stores and there was competition between them. But from what you mean, we might become the only restaurant, so pricing a dish at forty or fifty wouldn’t be a problem—money would roll in heaps.”
“Forty or fifty ghost money?” Zhang Qian clicked his tongue; that was nearly a quarter of his amount.
He really couldn’t see anything special about these dishes; in fact, these things were even more disgusting than swill.
He’d originally thought pricing them at a little over twenty was ridiculous enough, but now it was even saying they could sell for forty or fifty ghost money.
The taste probably wouldn’t appeal to any normal person, so the crucial point was probably in their effects.
Thinking of this, Zhang Qian couldn’t help but ask curiously, “What exactly do these dishes do? Are you so sure they’ll sell well?”
Selling for such a high price and still having buyers—could they really be some kind of miraculous elixir?
“Depending on the ingredients, each dish’s effects vary, but they all have one thing in common: they can regulate the supernatural power in the body.” The waiter lowered his voice and said mysteriously.
“Regulate the supernatural?” Zhang Qian frowned.
The waiter nodded. “Yes, ghost controllers inevitably end up controlling multiple fierce ghosts. Two is manageable, but the more there are later on, the greater the danger. If the fierce ghosts fight inside the body, it’s no joke.”
“The most important effect of the dishes is to temporarily suppress the conflicts between the supernatural forces in the user’s body, making them unite against external threats instead of infighting, truly becoming a whole.”
A whole, without interfering with each other?
Isn’t that just like becoming a puzzle piece?
Normally, puzzle pieces should have some connection, but these ghost restaurant dishes could ignore that connection and forcibly combine unrelated fierce ghosts.
“Not only does stability improve, but strength probably skyrockets too. With this effect, it’s no wonder they sell for a high price.” Zhang Qian said thoughtfully.
“Exactly, so the dishes have no trouble with sales. Just a little publicity, and customers will flock endlessly to buy.” The waiter grinned slyly.
“After all, ghost controllers aren’t exactly peaceful. Two evenly matched people could turn into a one-sided situation once one eats a dish. To avoid being the one crushed, they’ll naturally rush to hand us the money.”
